"Readers who like Lee Smith will like Susan Gilmore. Bezillia Grove is an unforgettable character with a unique voice, and we see through her eyes the troubles of class, race, and family in 1960s Nashville."

Ann Hood has written many novels, but I had never read her work until I picked up her newest novel, The Knitting Circle. Now I want to read all her other work. I am a beginning knitter, and an occasional one, at that, but this book was an inspiration in more ways than one. Of course I was drawn to the encouraging words her characters have about knitting as a hobby, but it was the richness and texture of the characters themselves that has stayed with me. The women have each experienced something difficult in their lives, and they find solace in each other as well in their shared craft.
-- Jessica Philyaw

Falsely charged of theft in 1768 London, thirteen-year-old Jeremy Proctor finds his only hope in Sir John Fielding, the founder of the Bow Street Runners police force, who recruits young Jeremy in his mission to fight crime. - Jessica Philyaw

A wonderful collection of essays that make up a memoir. The author, a former classmate of mine at Vassar, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease at the age of 20. The book chronicles his illness, treatments, relapses, and return to health, but it appealed to me as much for its humanism as for its medical adventures. Here is a man with a rock-solid sense of self, and that sense is almost destroyed by the disease that is killing his body and by the medical system that is trying to save his life. Along the way, the book discusses family relationships, his marriage and children, and faith. A truly inspirational book, but also a book filled with humor in the face of pending disaster. Read the first few pages, and you'll know of you're hooked.

The captivating story of a young girl who takes on a job as maid in the houshold of the Dutch master Vermeer. It is a coming-of-age story, a romance, a fine historical novel, and a tale of suspense, all in one. Chevalier blends these seemingly disparate genres into a well-written and compelling tale of life and art in seventeenth-century Delft. Griet, the young maid, is a complex personality in her own right, and she is a fine observer of her new master's character and art. From him, she learns to perceive the traces of blue, green, and yellow in a "white" cloud. From her, he learns that a "low-born" girl can have the intellect and insight of an educated gentleman.